Chapter Text
The setting sun bathed the office in a reddish hue, almost unsettling in how apt it was for the current situation. It was hard not to imagine the color washing over darker red in the manor where Odasaku had marched to his death. Dazai turned from the man in the chair, if he hurried maybe he could still do something…
“Dazai-kun.” Mori’s voice was smooth as ever as he called for him to halt, “You need to stay here. Or is there a logical reason why you should go to him?”
At the comment, the two guards blocking his exit from the office hoisted their weapons higher and Dazai’s eye narrowed as he stared down the barrels. This was the annoying thing about Mori. Well, there were a lot of annoying things about Mori, but by far the most annoying was how intelligent he was. He planned weeks in advance, accounted for every possibility and had contingencies in place for his contingencies . It was the same thing that Dazai did, and he did it because Mori had drilled it into him every step of the way and molded him to what he was now.
Dazai hated Mori for it. Without his tireless training, Dazai probably would have been able to die years ago, but instead he was stuck in this tireless pit of an existence while Odasaku…
“There are two things I wish to say to you, boss. First, you will not shoot me, nor will you have your subordinates shoot me.” The voice that left his lips was calm, detached, every bit the response Mori would have anticipated. It was a sharp contrast to the rage bubbling underneath Dazai’s skin; the intensity of the emotion so sharp and foreign.
“What makes you think that?”
“You have nothing to gain from it.”
“I believe you have nothing to gain by defying me and going to him.”
Dazai ignored him and continued, “As for the second thing, boss. You are right; I have nothing to gain by going to him, but I thought you should know that you miscalculated.”
Silence followed his statement. Dazai knew Mori was mentally running through every number in play, every piece on the board, as he tried to find the miscalculation. They both knew it was futile. If Mori missed something he did not have the time to pick it out, at least not while Dazai was in the same room.
“Do tell, Dazai-kun; what did I miscalculate?”
“You assumed that, after everything you just told me, my reaction would be logical.”
“I know you better than anyone, of course you will act logically.”
Dazai’s lips curled into a smile that made the men standing before him glance nervously at each other. He knew there was nothing warm nor genuine about the expression; it was the cold look he gave to the bastards who were unfortunate enough to get questioned by him, his teeth bared like fangs, “Well don’t blame yourself for being wrong, I didn’t even know I could feel this intensely before today.”
He finally turned around so that he could meet Mori’s gaze, making sure that the boss understood that he had finally pushed him too far. Besides, it wasn’t fair that Odasaku got to hog all the fun. Either Dazai was going to kill Mori, or he was going to force Mori to kill him. One way or the other, the red carpet of his boss’ precious lair was going to be dyed a deeper shade before the sun finished setting.
Purple eyes narrowed as Mori read everything Dazai left unsaid in his single eye, “Don’t be foolish, Dazai.”
Dazai pivoted, ducking under the aim of the guns at his back and ramming a fist up into the gut of the man on his left. In the same movement, he tugged his own weapon from his holster (really, regardless of the power trip it gave him, Mori should know better than to let Dazai near his office building with a gun) and shot the second in the head. A second shot was fired at the first man before he could recover from the punch and Dazai swung back around to face Mori. This time, he knew, the smile on his face was manic; it stretched across his face from ear to ear and the warmth of the blood that splattered against his cheek echoed the flame in his gut. Finally, he truly understood why the same expression had painted Mori’s face when the last boss was killed. If this was how everyone else experienced life, then perhaps Dazai could bear to live it just a while longer.
“Whoops,” He hummed, “It’s a little late for that warning, boss.”